


as a friend, as a known enemy.

by flamebirds



Category: New Teen Titans, Teen Titans (Comics), Teen Titans - All Media Types, Titans (Comics)
Genre: Betrayal, Clones But Not Really, Fix-It of Sorts, H Dial, Identity Issues, If DC Will Not Write It I Will, Lords Of Chaos - Freeform, Lords Of Order, Multi, Outsiders (Team), Past Character Death, Psychic Abilities, References To The Judas Contract, Resurrection, Team Bonding, Team Dynamics, Team Titans, Team as Family, Titans LA, Titans West - Freeform, first draft
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-19
Updated: 2019-05-25
Packaged: 2020-03-08 05:18:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,234
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18887950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flamebirds/pseuds/flamebirds
Summary: Titans LA starts a little messily, a cacophony of old teammates & destroyed apartments. It doesn't get much better from there.





	1. Party Blues

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They really haven't had enough coffee for this.

Standing in the debris of what was once his, Matt and Bette's apartment wasn't how Garfield Logan planned on ending his day.

All he wanted to do was pick Bette up from UCLA (she'd just finished her exams and they'd agreed to get ice cream to celebrate) and instead, he'd gotten in a fight on the subway and returned home to find that his  _darling_  cousin had decided to throw a recruitment drive/bad excuse for a party.

The small, cramped apartment he'd called home for months somehow seemed to get even tinier with so many superheroes crowded inside it. For a moment, he thought he saw Blue Devil, before dispelling that idea ━ where the hell would Matt ever get Blue Devil's number?

So. Superhero party in his place with people that he hadn't seen (purposely, very purposely hadn't seen) mingling around him. Lilith had come and disappeared just as fast, deeming the entire thing to be a waste of her time.

Gar sort of agreed with her.

He tried to pretend that Karen and Mal's mentions to Don and Charley didn't make his gut twist. They were right, of course; without those two, the team could never be the same. Hell, he couldn't even see Hank and a team of just him, Karen, Mal and Bette wouldn't feel right.

Neither would letting these strangers into the group. Titans West was, above all things, a family. A little strange and a little broken, but he knew they would always have each other's back. Well, he thought he knew before Charley was beaten to death; before Don was crushed in the Crisis; before Duela decided that being a villain was so much more fun than saving people. Just... before.

He barely recognized half the people wandering around his home. There was definitely a Marvel, that much he was sure of, but he couldn't say which one for the life of him and he was pretty sure he was supposed to know the boy in the back talking animatedly to Mirage.

Tara was also there, right next to Miriam, and that was not something he was prepared. It wasn't that Tara, the one he fell in love with, the one that tried to murder him and his closest friends. He knew that. He  _did_.

The problem was that she just so happened to look exactly like that Tara. From the way her nose crinkled when she laughed to the sarcastic drawl that clung to every word she spoke, she resembled the fallen Titan in far too many ways for him to be comfortable around her. A part of him wanted to go over there and talk to her and hear her say his name in something other than hatred just once more but his feet were rooted in place.

If her scowl was anything to go by, Bette had picked up on his mood and she seemed to be trying to set Tara on fire with her eyes. While he appreciated the fact she always had his back, he didn't want to make Tara uncomfortable. It wasn't her fault that she wore the face of the original Titan traitor.

The entire situation was enough to get his nerves wracked up, wishing the entire thing would just end and he could crawl into bed and pretend that the feeling of earth crushing him wasn't covering every part of his skin. It was perfectly awful without a supervillain attack, but the world could never give him a break.

Duela broke in with her usual flair, dramatic and murderous, and he was so sure somebody would get hurt. Duela, sweet Duela, dangerous Duela that had hurt every member of Titans West in the past, was not the kind of person to underestimate and he knew that most of the people there didn't realize it. All they saw was a girl having an identity crisis or some Joker knock-off. They didn't understand anything ━ only four of them did.

Duela attacked and he started to lose himself in the cacophony of chaos. It was soothing, in a weird way, being caught up in a fight, so long as he forgot exactly who it was trying to kill him. Trying to kill everybody in that room.

But somehow, by a miracle he didn't have the energy to question, they did it. They took Duela down and the only thing that got truly damaged was his apartment. 

Hero Cruz ━ one of the new people that Matt had invited ━ used his powers and got Duela out of there, straight into a cell in Arkham and sporting a new costume because of reasons that Gar really didn't want to question.

Which left him poking a piece of plaster with his the toe of his shoe while Bette's face twisted into a small wince. He'd have to talk to her, once everybody else was gone. See if she was okay. Bette and Duela had had something and while he was never told the specifics, he could tell Bette was close to the clown.

"Guess we're not getting the security deposit back", Matt joked.

"Seriously?" Bette groaned. "We all know this one's coming out of my pocket."

"Like you can't afford it, Blondie", Tara scoffed. Maybe she'd picked up on Bette's animosity for her or maybe it was something else entirely. When it came to Tara, Gar never knew and now, he wasn't sure if he wanted to.

Whatever the case was, he gripped Bette's wrist. He couldn't lie; before LA, he didn't know Bette. Not really, not as well as he should have. But after she helped save his life, he started to and he was aware of how impulsive she could be, especially if someone, in this case, Tara, got snippy with her.

The tension hung in the air and he could see the discomfort clear as day on Karen's features. This was definitely  _not_  how he wanted to spend his day and the thought of cleaning up after this disaster of a party was not appealing to him.

"So", Matt said awkwardly, clearing his throat. "Pizza?"

A small smile ghosted Karen Beecher's lips and Gar felt something like hope flare up in his chest.

"It always was a Titans West tradition to get pizza after a fist fight."

"We're not calling ourselves Titans West!"

"Hey!" Bette protested. "That name has meaning!"

"You guys came up with it when you were, like, ten", Matt said, dismissing the idea. "Titans LA though... that actually sounds kinda good!"

Gar watched as his cousin started to take orders, checking who was a vegan, who was a heathen that liked pineapple on pizza, and he turned his gaze to Bette. She was swaying on the back of her heels, humming some song. A classic look for her trying to pretend that everything was going to be fine when she didn't feel it.

"Did we just get dragged back into a team?"

"Like we needed any convincing. And hey, if Karen and Mal actually do end up staying, this could end up being pretty fun."

"Yeah. It won't be the same though."

She bit down on her lip, shifting slightly. "Well, maybe we need a change of pace. It could be good for us, you know?"

With her giving him those big blue eyes and the way everybody had started to settle in, dusting off seats before sitting on them, he didn't really have it in him to say no outright. Besides, Bette was right; this could be good for them. Crime in LA had never been a two-person job and the idea of spending time with Mal and Karen was undeniably appealing. It could really work out like she said, with the right amount of effort put in.

Provided they didn't all kill each other first, of course.


	2. Identity Crisis

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bette & Gar try to get a handle on their possible teammates' abilities. Tara gets a little angsty. Neither activity ends particularly well.

"So, you, like, use a magic phone to get different powers for one hour?" Bette asked, her brows scrunched in confusion. Gar wanted to know what the hell was going through her head but since they were in the middle of the interviewing process, he figured it could wait. Maybe.

"It's a little more complicated than that."

Bette gave Hero Cruz her signature debutante smile. "Can you simplify it for me?"

There was a drop of silence and Gar shared a look with his friend. They had both decided to interview the new recruits, get a grip on their powers, who they were as a person, before fully committing to the idea of a team.

Well, before he fully committed to it. From the way her eyes shone, it was clear that Bette was already fully invested and ready to go.

"I don't know", Hero admitted. "I was hoping to find somebody who had the H Dial before me... haven't heard of anyone yet."

One blonde eyebrow arched carefully and Bette had her phone out, scrolling through her contacts before he could blink.

"Luckily for you", she said, pink lips twitching into that chillingly familiar smirk that always guaranteed trouble, "Gar and I happen to know the previous owner."

Gar blinked in surprise. "We do?"

There was a small huff. " _Yes_. Chris, remember?"

"Chris was just a teleporter."

"I swear to god, I was the only one that communicated on that team", Bette said, sighing dramatically. "Hero, I'll talk to Chris, see if he can come and help you out. I think you two would get along ━ oh! And he could introduce you to Vicki! I loved that girl!"

Bette continued to babble away as she led Hero to the door, smiling all the way.

Gar stayed seated. His friend wasn't wrong; she had always been the one to talk to everyone, to chat about whatever, back on Titans West. He just didn't realize how little he actually knew about his teammates. And, still, his mind jumped back to months ago, when Bette had said Titans West was like her family. That didn't sit right with him. He barely knew her, if he was being honest, and he kept on yearning to be on the main Titans team, the 'real' one. He'd never understand how she still considered him a close friend when he honestly wouldn't have spoken to her again had they not met up in LA.

He was snapped away from his thoughts by the sound of the door opening and footsteps clacking against the hardwood floor.

"Gar", Bette said in her usual cheery tone that Gar was started to doubt was legitimate, "this is Captain Marvel Junior. From Fawcett City."

"How did Matt even get in contact with him?"

Bette gave a soft shrug of her shoulders. "We, like, technically teamed up before I came to LA. So I had him in my contacts."

Gar paused. "Did Matt steal your phone to throw that party?"

"One of them", she replied breezily. "Anyways! Freddy came with Mary Marvel but Mary didn't want to stick around."

He gave Marvel Junior ━ Freddy ━ a friendly smile. He looked a little younger than him, but with magic involved, it was better not to guess any ages. Bette probably knew anyway and she'd never let a kid onto a superhero team that was bound to get into serious situations. He'd listened to her rant about the Justice League enough to be certain of that much.

Gar let Bette do most of the talking. He still wasn't entirely convinced on the whole team thing. What did they have? Two former Teen Titans, a lookalike for the original traitor, a guy that didn't even know the full extent of his abilities, a retired couple, some hyperactive kid, and, apparently, a guy with magic powers from a wizard? It didn't exactly read as 'dream team' material.

He wouldn't say it aloud but from the looks he was getting from Bette, he didn't have to. She'd probably spend the rest of the night pitching the team to him and, usually, he'd go along with it. But right then, all he wanted to do was sleep and not worry about the fact that the wall to his apartment had been blown open and that they'd have to go house hunting soon.

Freddy left soon after and he turned to find Bette staring at him. The second Captain Marvel Junior walked out of the room, her bright smile had dropped and she was running a tired hand through her blonde tresses.

"This isn't going to work", she sighed. "God, how do you even lead a team? Some of these people ━ they're great  _solo_  heroes, but I can't see them working in a team. Not in the way we need."

"I don't think  _we_  should be on any team."

The words had slipped out before he could stop them. And now he had Bette, giving him a confused, exhausted look. She looked a little like a kicked puppy and it took the last vestiges of his self-control not to start hugging her then and there.

"I don't want to be on one", he said, "and Bette, you're in college, you're patrolling LA and you're working on getting Kane Industries transferred to you. Do you really think you have time for a superhero team?"

She bit down on her lip, averting his gaze and making a swell of guilt well up in him. But he wasn't wrong. Bette was overworked as it was and if she added a team, a Titans team no less, to her load, she'd combust.

"Other people have managed more", she said softly. 'Other people', he assumed, meant her cousins. It probably wouldn't help if he pointed out that her cousins were Batman and Batwoman and they could manage just about anything. (Didn't mean he didn't think it). "And I wouldn't be doing it alone."

"I'm not joining a team", Gar repeated. "It's not happening."

She rolled her eyes. "I was  _talking_  about Matt. Though I was kinda hoping you'd change your mind..."

"Nope. Not a chance."

She put her head into hands and let out a groan of despair. "We should've just walked out with Lilith."

He couldn't really rebuff that.

* * *

Tara had no fucking idea what she was doing in LA. One call from Beast Boy's cousin and she'd dropped everything, dragging Miriam along with her and what for? Somebody who loved another girl with her face? Somebody that she hoped and prayed she would never turn into?

Yet again. She really did not know what she was doing.

Maybe she wanted answers. From what she'd heard, Garfield was closest to Terra. Well. Maybe the creepy old dude was  _physically_  closer (it made her sick to think about), but Gar was supposed to be her best friend. He'd know if she was her. He would, she told herself.

Brion had done the DNA test. Garfield didn't think she was the original Terra. Everything seemed to point in the direction of her being someone ━ some _thing_  ━ else but she had a feeling, deep inside her, that that wasn't the case. Some things... some things just didn't add up for her.

Like how she knew who Flamebird was long before she stepped inside the apartment. She didn't need to see her face to know she was Bette Kane; she already knew it as a fact. The sky is blue, Flamebird is a rich tennis player and the Tara Markov in LA might have been having a slight identity crisis.

It made her wish for Miriam. The others, too, but Miriam had been her first friend, always looking out for her and always there to talk. She could use somebody to talk to, right about now, somebody to tell her that she was not going to turn psycho and murder everyone around her. It didn't matter how Nightwing or Starfire looked at her. She wasn't a bomb waiting to go off.

She just kind of wished somebody would tell her that.

Wishing wasn't going to get her anywhere though and she knew that. She'd wished for months that the original Titans would stop shooting her distrustful looks, always checking to make sure she hadn't shoved a knife in their back, and yet here she was, still getting them and still feeling the sick pit in her stomach every single time.

Wishing, she decided, was for children. And she wasn't a child, not anymore, not after all she'd been through. She had helped save the future, for Christ's sake, and she was sure that the original Tara Markov wouldn't have done that. She probably would've joined Lord Chaos and laughed when he burned everything down.

Even so. Tara really didn't know what she was doing or why she was there or why she had let Miriam leave without her. Her friend had asked her to come back with her, but no, Tara just had to make up some lame excuse to stay.

Maybe that wasn't her  _best_  decision.

 _Fuck_. She needed to go back and tell Garfield that she wouldn't be joining his knock-off Teen Titans. Maybe it was a little harsh but seeing him made her feel  _weird_  and she didn't like it. Any more of it, and she was sure she'd go insane.

Her hands stuffed in her pockets, Tara turned around. She'd go back to that wrecked apartment, grab her stuff and get the next plane to New York and then she and Miri would eat ice cream and Miri would say some snide comment that'd make her laugh and she'd finally feel normal.

That was her plan, at least. And as far as she remembered, her plan never involved some blue chick grabbing her and pulling her into an alley.

It definitely didn't involve having the air pulled from her lungs and Tara swore that when she woke up, she was going to kick the ass of whoever thought it was a good idea to attack her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *chef kiss* for molly AKA the god tier of people that puts up with my extremely dumb ass


	3. Ninjas & Omens

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When somebody gets kidnapped, it's usually a good thing to have a psychic on speed dial.

Being told that Tara hadn't come back from her walk was bad news.

Bette hacking security cameras with a fiery vengeance was worse. He knew that look in her eyes, was so used to seeing it in Kory or Dick; she was sure that Tara had betrayed them in some way.

Gar didn't buy it though. Was she a little rough around the edges? Yeah. Did she have a tendency to be rude to most people? Also, yeah. But that didn't mean she was evil. It just meant that, as well as sharing a face, she had a few things in common with the original Terra. It didn't mean she also shared her predilection for murder and betrayal.

Matt took a sip from his drink, watching Bette intently. Gar was almost certain his cousin had a crush on her and he didn't have the heart to break it to him that A) he wasn't Bette's type and B) even if he was, he didn't stand a chance. Bette fell for people like Duela and Charley, Dick and Donna; people that lived in a constant state of danger, where every moment was filled with adrenaline. She'd never date somebody outside the superhero community.

"Where do you even learn stuff like this?" Matt asked.

"The Batcave", she answered, mind focused upon the screen in front of her. She was filtering through the camera footage from the streets she guessed Tara would be around. It wasn't going as well as any of them had hoped and Gar couldn't deny he was a little worried. Tara had been missing for more than a few hours now and he had to keep reminding himself that this was  _Terra_ , she was fine, she didn't need them to save her. And if they did figure out where she went off to and went to help her out, she wouldn't be leading them into a trap. She  _wouldn't_.

Bette bit down on her lip. "Gar, get my phone. Call Lilith."

"Why?"

"'Cause we're getting nowhere", she sighed, "and our maybe-teammate is missing."

"Come on, Bette", he protested, as that sick feeling started building in his chest again. They were probably being dramatic. Tara was fine and had no intentions to kill him. Which he totally believed. Totally.

"She's only been missing for a few hours", he continued. "Hero, Protector & Marvel are all out there looking for her and Karen and Mal are holding down the fort. We don't need Lilith."

"We absolutely do", she said, turning the main computer screen towards him. The footage in front of him was grainy, but he could make the familiar head of dirty blonde hair. It showed Tara walking along the street and a flash of blue pulling her into an alleyway.

She didn't come out.

"Well... at least we know whoever kidnapped her is blue?" Matt said to break the silence. "Hey! Maybe she just met up with Blue Devil!"

"Highly doubtful, considering he's not even in LA right now."

"I'm out of ideas."

"Call. Lilith", Bette repeated, enunciating each word. "I'll try hacking into the LAPD records, see if they've got anything on blue kidnappers. It's a long shot, but it's worth it."

"Can't we wait until you've finished that?" Gar pleaded. The memory of the disdain on Lilith's face kept on coming to mind and asking if she would help them find Tara didn't seem like the best idea in the world. More like one that would get him a lecture (losing a teammate on day one really wasn't a good thing) and then she might call in Nightwing. Gar really wasn't in the mood to speak to Nightwing, not after Bette had told them about the conversation they'd had.

He figured he'd punch Nightwing. There may have been some anger over how he chose to speak to Flamebird.

"No, we can't", Bette told him. "The odds of a missing person living past the first 24 hours aren't great in general. The odds of Tara living past two with the person that managed to take her down is worse."

He took the phone from her palm without complaint. All the worries about what Lilith would say or do, his fear that maybe, just maybe, Tara was the original and this was just another scheme to make them lower their guards, were thrown out the window the second Bette implied Tara wasn't alive.

Even after all this time, even with somebody who might not have even been the real her, there was nothing that Garfield Logan wouldn't do for Tara Markov.

* * *

Lilith Clay was a little stumped. It wasn't often that ninjas approached her without the expressed intent to murder her but here one was, wanting to be a hero and, for some unknown reason, wanting to join whatever whackjob team Flamebird and Beast Boy had whipped up this time.

God, she missed them.

She missed Flamebird and Duela singing Disney songs off-key at all hours of the morning because one of them had a nightmare. She missed Charley and Hank always being at each other's throats and always being the first to anger if the other was harmed in any way. She missed Don, the way he always brought calmness to the team's calamity.

A little peace would've been quite welcome at that moment. She was still expecting Bushido, the ninja, to whip out a sword and stab her. Instead, he sat there patiently, explaining that he wanted to be a hero and that he, very specifically, wanted to join Titans LA. (Where had they even come up with that name? Titans West worked just fine if you asked her).

She smoothed down her green skirt, offering the man in front of her a smile, as her phone started to ring.

"Sorry. Just a second", she said.

When she picked up her phone, she had every intention of hanging up, until she saw it was Bette calling. Even then, she should've declined the call and focused on the situation in front of her. If she was offered a place on their team, she would turn it down. Donna had already left an offer to join the Titans in New York and, well, she'd be lying if she said she didn't miss everyone.

But, then again...

"Hello?"

"Lilith?" Gar's voice came through stressed and crackling. "We, uh, we might need your help."

She frowned. "What's going on?"

"Tara went missing."

Lilith pinched the bridge of her nose and let out a measured sigh. She shouldn't have left, not once she saw Tara and Garfield in the same building. She should've stayed and made sure things were okay and kept an eye on somebody who looked an awful lot like a villain.

"How long ago?"

"A couple of hours", Gar told her. "Bette's been going through some footage from CCTV nearby; all we know is that she was grabbed by some blue chick."

"Indigo?" Lilith asked. "Maybe Brion needed his little sister for the Outsiders."

"Tara isn't technically his sister", Gar immediately corrected, "and she would've told her if she was going anywhere. She's not picking up her phone, Lil, and Bette can't get a signal for it."

Lilith bit her lip. She wasn't that far out from LA and if Gar really needed her help, then, as a hero, she couldn't refuse. It absolutely had nothing to do with the fact that she missed her old teammates more than she cared to admit.

No, Omen was only coming back to keep an eye on Terra. Nothing more, nothing less.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still don't know what I'm doing or why I'm doing it. That doesn't mean I'm gonna stop though.


End file.
